The Economy & Finance Ministry issued a statement saying it is “investigating” a “campaign of rumors” allegedly being promoted by “sectors interested in provoking bank runs by diffusing lies, falsifying the government’s financial policy, and trying to panic savers.”

The ministry’s statement says it received “several reports” of this alleged rumor campaign after it intervened and closed Stanford Bank Venezuela.

The ministry’s statement also says “intelligence organs have been instructed and have already started the investigations to identify the (people) responsible for the campaign and apply the corresponding penal sanctions.”

If there’s a rumor campaign under way against the banks, the public was unaware of it – until the ministry issued the statement.

That’s not to say a very substantial portion of Venezuela’s banking system is not a potential financial disaster waiting to erupt.

There are some solid banks in Venezuela. But there are more troubled banks than healthy banks.

Hint: Banks with large portfolios of government paper are not a wise place to park one’s savings.

Hint: For some time, there have been quiet rumblings in the financial brokerage sector that there could be a large number of mini-Madoffs waiting to happen. “Some of the mutuales out there are mini-Madoffs,” a financial broker commented to us recently.